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Brave women raising money for charity

A brave woman is undertaking a daring challenge to raise money for a charity close to her heart.

Clemmie Ward, 26, of Colchester Road, is doing a 10,000 ft sky dive despite being not being keen on heights, for the charity Headway, which supported her after her mum, Linda Buck, 56, nearly died from having a brain haemorrhage in June last year.

The administrator said: “Mum having the brain haemorrhage was one of the worst experiences of my life.

“It was an incredibly hard time for us, especially as the operation took 7 hours.

“Whilst I was sitting in Southampton hospital’s waiting room, I saw a poster for Headway and promised myself that if mum pulled through, I would do a skydive to raise money for the charity.

“We were very lucky that mum did pull through and is almost back to normal, but unfortunately in January this year, my friend 56-year-old Gary Collins passed away from exactly the same thing that mum had and this really pushed me to sign up for the skydive.”

Mrs Ward said that she had felt excited for her first sky dive.

“I’m not very keen on heights and, after a friend at work showed me a video of someone doing a skydive, I now feel more nervous.

“However, I would absolutely do this and other events again if it means more money can be raised for charity.”

She has raised £250 so far, but wants to reach over £1,000 for Headway, a UK-wide charity that works to improve life after brain injury.

“Although they didn’t help me directly, I think they are a really important charity and do such vital work.

“We were lucky with mum, but so many other people need support from the charity.

“I think people can get caught up in their own lives and take everything they can do, but people recovering from brain haemorrhages can’t, for granted.”